Okay, so the above photo is actually pretty dang awesome because, when I first posted that I was going to be in Disney World I got a message from Diane.

Diane is a fellow member of a creative group I belong to (five-time-New-York-Times-best-selling-author-and-friend-Jon-Katz (I call him that every time I see and/or talk to him. It’s kind of a mouthful*)).  Anyway, Jon started the Open Group for Bedlam Farm I and Diane and I – and seven hundred of our closest creative friends – belong to it. But more importantly…

Diane works at Disney World!

And I was so excited because she told me where she would be, at what time, and on what day and we were actually going to be in that park on that day…

Huge yippee!

So, yesterday when we were in Animal Kingdom, we made our way over to the Outfitters Store on Discovery Island and Mac scanned name tags and the very first person we saw in the store had a badge that said ‘Diane’.

And this ‘Diane’ was immersed in the very serious activity of trading pins with a guest (a big Disney thing), so we waited patiently and, when she was finished, we walked up to the counter and I asked if she was indeed the Diane called ‘Diane Van Cura’ and she said ‘Yes!’ and rushed around the counter and we had a huge hug (which was very nice and accepting of her because we were all really sweaty from having been on that two-week safari just a couple of hours earlier and had not showered).

And Diane knew all of the kids and the Nearly Perfect Husband from the blog already, so we caught up and I found out that Diane is one of those amazing humans who is wonderful and so humble about who she is and what she does.

Diane does so much that I was in awe.

Diane didn’t look or act or feel tired. But what she does on a daily basis? If I did all that, I would be tired.

Sort of like a contact tired.

Is that a thing? A contact tired?

Well, it is now.

First of all, Diane is a hospice worker.

You can feel Diane’s great compassion when you meet her. It sort of radiates from her pores.

She calls her job at Disney her ‘fun job’ and told us all about working there and her experiences over the nine years she’s been with Disney.

Diane also creates jewelry (which is her contribution to the creative group we belong to (and have now met as a result of!)).

And, in her ‘downtime’, she helps her son who owns a nursery business in Columbus.

Like I said, I got a contact tired.

But it was hard to maintain it because, like I said, Diane looks anything but tired.

She shines.

And, I think, along with compassion, she radiates help and support and all sorts of other good things.

It was awesome to meet her.

Diane wanted a photo, and I took the one above with the kids. Then she said she wanted one with me in it and the Nearly Perfect Husband offered to take it.

Which gave him a good opportunity to prove, once again, why he is only nearly perfect.

Here is his photo of us.

In which I look like I am maniacally eating Diane’s head off.

To be fair, the lighting was pretty harsh. So I thought maybe switching it to black and white would be better (no, it wouldn’t suddenly make the lower part of my face appear, but maybe I would look a little less harsh)…

Nope.

Still eating Diane’s head off.

This time creepily. Because of black and white, that’s why.

Which is none too friendly a reminder of our first meeting.

I guess we will have to do it again, Diane!

Until then, it was a privilege to meet you :))

Thanks for readin’.

As always, you can come on over to Just Ponderin’s Facebook page to comment or just hang out.

 * The Just Ponderin’ Legal Department is making me tell you that Jon Katz really doesn’t make me call him ‘five-times-New-York-Times-best-selling-author-Jon-Katz’ every single time I see and/or talk to him. (Only most of the time…)

Okay, not even most of the time.  But it’s fun to do sometimes. Because it is, after all, true).